Thursday, July 10, 2008

Current Energy Source Distribution


The image and table from wikipedia give an idea of the proportional contribution of different energy sources. Wikipedia tends to underestimate energy reserves of various types such as fossil fuels and geothermal, and to overestimate near-term potential of wind and solar. Even so, one can derive a rough picture of energy consumption and reserves by browsing the link above.

Replacing fossil fuels within the next few decades will be incredibly difficult, short of a breakthrough in fusion energy. Much better to develop clean and responsible methods of using coal, heavy oils, oil sands, oil shale, and nuclear energy--to bridge the next few decades until renewables such as solar, geothermal, and biomass can come into their own.












































Fuel typePower in TW[1]Energy/year in EJ
Oil5.6180
Gas3.5110
Coal3.8120
Hydroelectric0.930
Nuclear0.930
Geothermal, wind,

solar, wood
0.134
Total15471

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